Priests for Life calls for probe of La. Department of Health and Hospitals

Priests for Life

6/14/2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Andre Kim, 347-286-7277

STATEN ISLAND, NY --Priests for Life has joined a Louisiana pro-life advocate in calling for an independent investigation of that state’s Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH).

Baton Rouge resident Richard Mahoney has uncovered evidence that Delta Women’s Clinic in Baton Rouge has, for decades, falsified medical records and under-reported the number of abortions that result in death or injury to pregnant women. DHH officials have been aware of the practice and have allowed it to continue, he alleges.

Father Peter West, associate director of Priests for Life, is working with Mahoney to expose abuses at DHH and Delta, which has ties to indicted Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

Mahoney has documents that show Delta Clinic submits forms to DHH on which many of the boxes had been pre-filled. On two separate forms, the box for “Complication of Pregnancy Termination” have been pre-printed with an “x” next to the “None” response.

“This practice of falsifying legal documents to the DHH’s Office of Vital Records and the medical malpractice and fraud involved in sending forms to the DHH that were … completed prior to seeing any patients, is tantamount to the largest travesty of justice ever perpetrated by the medical establishment under the guise of women’s reproductive health care,” Mahoney said. “In no other branch of medical practice would this be tolerated. The ramifications of these perjuries to the health of women in the United States is staggering.”

Father West said it is within DHH’s power to close Delta Clinic immediately.

“Under a 2010 law, DHH has the authority to close abortion facilities that violate state standards,” said Father West. “In fact, the publicity surrounding Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge is at least partially responsible for the closure of a New Orleans abortion facility. We demand that DHH immediately use its power to close Delta. Failing that, Priests for Life demands an independent congressional investigation of DHH.”

In the past, Delta owner Leroy Brinkley employed Gosnell one day a week. Eileen White O’Neil, who has been charged in the Gosnell case with pretending to be a licensed physician, also has worked for Brinkley.

“Women in Louisiana need to know the danger they are in once they step inside Delta Clinic,” Father West said. “DHH has the authority to shut it down today, and yet officials refuse to act. It’s time – it’s way past time – to find out why.”

Mahoney said: “The public needs to know the truth about abortion, the atrocities that have been committed by the abortion industry, and the government's complicity in the skewing of the number of abortions performed and the injuries and complications associated with these procedures. All records that were falsified to the DHH Vital Records Registry need to be corrected and the appropriate information needs to be reported for each patient. We believe that only a Congressional hearing and an Independent Council investigation on these false reporting practices will reveal the truth about these abominable practices.”

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.